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The Soldotna Library is renovating and expanding for the second time in less than two years. The city chose materials for the building’s expansion that are aesthetically pleasing as well as durable, said G and S President Dan Green, the contractor handling the construction.

“(The library) is going to be a showpiece, a quality building for Soldotna,” Green said. “A lot of the materials are very nice; they’re not in the ordinary.”

Police reports filed at the Kenai Courthouse offer more details into Thursday’s sex trafficking and prostitution arrests in Kenai.

Kenai Police Department officers arrested Karen Carpenter, who operated Gifted Hands Massage on Attla Way in Kenai, according to a press release. The 49-year-old Soldotna resident was charged with three counts of felony sex trafficking. Those charges were in the first, second and third degrees. She also was charged with misdemeanor prostitution.

Kenai Peninsula College’s Kenai River Campus is set to become the most technologically advanced training facility in the university system. The new Career and Technical Education Center, scheduled to open in August, will house a state-of-the-art oil water separator. The two-story device will replace the college’s old separator. It simulates real-world process technology scenarios.

Ultimately, the separator will strengthen an already popular program, said KPC director Gary J. Turner.

A 50-year-old Kenai man was sentenced Thursday in federal court in Anchorage for tax evasion.

Michael A. Spisak failed to pay over employees’ taxes to the Internal Revenue Service for two companies, according to evidence introduced during a federal trial. This failure led to expensive tax penalties, which Spisak did not pay.

Spisak was sentenced to 44 months in prison, the Alaska U.S. District Attorney announced in a press release. A jury found him guilty of tax evasion on Oct. 29, 2012. He was taken into custody on that date and has been incarcerated since.

The Soldotna City Council announced Wednesday during a brief special meeting a vacancy in the office of the mayor. Soldotna Mayor Peter Micciche’s resignation was effective as of 5 p.m.

The council declared an April 2 special election to replace Micciche. The interim mayor will serve for the remainder of Micciche’s term, which expires on Oct. 2014. Vice Mayor Brenda Hartman will handle mayoral duties until a new mayor is elected.

The Sport Fisheries Division of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game aims to eradicate northern pike in western portion of Soldotna Creek. Fish and Game will treat the drainage in two to three phases, said fisheries biologist Robert Massengill.

“(Fish and Game) will work through the entire project covering costs, but the bulk of funding for the first part comes from Sustainable Salmon,” Massengill said.

A Las Vegas man who operated a drug trafficking organization that shipped prescription drugs from Nevada to Anchorage, the Kenai Peninsula and the Matanuska-Susitna Valley was sentenced Thursday to 15 years in prison.

Jedidiah R. McGlasson, of Nikiski, who is on probation for his role in the death of a Wisconsin college student in 2010, pleaded not guilty to a DUI charge Friday at the Kenai Courthouse.

Kenai Police arrested McGlasson early morning Christmas Eve after he failed to stop at a stop sign. McGlasson had a preliminary blood-alcohol reading of .078 and was arrested after failing field sobriety tests, said Sgt. Ben Langham.

As 2013 begins, Alaska residents gifted with timeliness will likely apply for their Alaska Permanent Fund dividends. During the PFD application-period about 4 percent of eligible residents donate to charities through the Pick. Click. Give. program

Many nonprofits operating on the Kenai Peninsula participate in the program. Donors cite ease of use as the main reason for participating in the program, said local non-profit directors.

Three local non-profits plan to fund educational programs with their received donations.